A meeting of the players held earlier this week had more than a little to do with the Cavaliers' first victory Thursday night, a 105-103 squeaker over the Portland Trail Blazers.

    "A couple of games ago the guys met on our own and we decided to work extra hard as a team and not as individuals," veteran forward McCoy McLemore revealed yesterday from Seattle.
    "We agreed to criticize constructively on the court.  If four guys are doing the job and one isn't we now tell that person and no one takes it personally,"

    MCLEMORE DESCRIBED the Cavs' initial triumph this way, "It was a pleasant distraction to what we've been going through."
    "We're going to come out of all of this because we're so young.  If we were all older guys we'd tend to point fingers at others more and judge other guys' play and neglect our own."
    "All these young fellows on the team don't let the losses bother thm and can bounce back fast after a defeat," added McCoy.

    McLemore, who was a member of the 1964-65 San Francisco Warriors, who share the all-time losing streak of 17 with San Diego, also said that despite trailing by four points, 57-53, at halftime against Portland, the Cavs believed they still could win it.

    WE PLAYED SO badly in the first half and were still in the game we actually felt we were ahead," he said.
    "Then we passed the critical stage in  the third quarter whered we have been falling way behind and were still in the ball game."

*                *                 *
    BEFORE THE  Portland victory, coach Bill Fitch purchased at an antique shop a replica of a human skull with a toy rat on top -- it's called the "Game Skull."

    The skull is perched near the Cavs bench during the game and then is awarded to the player who gave the best performance.  Reserves Bobby Lewis and Dave Sorenson shared the award after the victory over the Blazers.   The winner, Sorenson in this case, was custodian of the skull until last night's game at Seattle.  Both Lewis and Sorenson, who scored 12 points each, had to sign the skull . . .Mrs. Marilyn August has proved to be a diehard Cavalier fan.  She has worn a gold sweatshirt and wine slacks everyday since the season began, vowing not to change outfits until Cleveland won a game.

    This "Nicholsworth" column originally appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer November 14, 1970.
Reproduced with permission.